Maintenance Manager

Pact Group is hiring for a Maintenance Manager to lead the Pact Packaging Hamilton site, onsite in Hamilton, New Zealand. This division is focused on sustainable packaging, partnering with global brands and local dairy producers to weave sustainability into every step of the product life cycle. The role sits at the heart of the site’s engineering function, charged with delivering a safe, reliable, and cost-conscious maintenance service that underpins operational performance.

Reporting to the Site Business Unit Manager, the Maintenance Manager will steer the entire maintenance function and champion a shift from reactive repairs to preventative and predictive maintenance. It’s a role for someone who wants to lift asset reliability, slash downtime and maintenance costs, and build a high-performing team that drives operational excellence across the site.

Keeping the plant humming in Hamilton

In this position you’ll own the maintenance program at Pact Packaging Hamilton, ensuring activities meet health, safety, quality, environmental, food safety, and regulatory standards, including contractor management and permit-to-work controls. You’ll design and drive preventative and predictive maintenance strategies through MEX and planning processes to maximise asset reliability and equipment performance, while boosting overall operating efficiency.

Reliability will be your north star as you push for fewer unplanned outages, lead root cause investigations, and implement sustainable fixes. You’ll oversee site services, buildings, infrastructure, and statutory compliance to keep critical plant and utility systems safe and dependable, and you’ll manage engineering procurement, contractors, critical spares, and the maintenance budget to deliver value without compromising safety or quality. You’ll also steer continuous improvement and capital projects, from equipment upgrades to process changes, that lift manufacturing performance and asset value over the long term, all while developing your team and fostering a proactive, collaborative culture that complements operational excellence.

What you’ll need to bring to the role

To be successful in this role, you’ll combine hands-on leadership with a solid technical foundation and a mindset for continuous improvement.

• Proven leadership of maintenance teams in manufacturing or industrial settings, with a track record of building safety-conscious, accountable, high-performing groups.
• A tertiary qualification in Mechanical, Electrical, Process, Reliability Engineering, or Business is highly regarded. Current EWRB EAS-EST accreditation, or a willingness to obtain it, would be advantageous.
• Strong expertise in maintenance and reliability practices, including preventive and predictive maintenance, root cause analysis, elimination of failures, asset reliability improvements, and critical spares management.
• Experience managing maintenance planning systems and CMMS platforms such as MEX, SAP, or similar, with the ability to optimise asset performance and operational efficiency.
• Solid technical knowledge of manufacturing equipment and systems, including mechanical, electrical, hydraulic, pneumatic, material handling, and site utility assets.
• Commercial experience budgeting, procurement, supplier and contractor management, and maintenance cost control.
• Effective communication, planning, analytical, and stakeholder management skills, supported by experience applying lean manufacturing and structured problem-solving methodologies.

Nice-to-haves

• EWRB EAS-EST accreditation current or willingness to obtain it would be advantageous.

Pay, benefits and practical details

This is a full-time, onsite role in Hamilton, NZ, with a compensation package described as a competitive base salary. You’ll join a close-knit team that values safety and has a strong focus on sustainability and the circular economy. Benefits include discounted health insurance premiums through Southern Cross, free onsite parking, annual flu vaccinations, and an Employee Assistance Programme (EAP). The role emphasises a safety-first culture and is designed to support ongoing professional development within a values-driven environment.

Advice for applicants

Highlight your track record leading maintenance in manufacturing by opening with a concrete result, something like the uptime or downtime improvement you achieved after implementing preventative or predictive maintenance programs.

When you describe your must-have skills, back them up with specifics: cite examples of safety improvements, how you managed contractors, and the way you used CMMS data to improve asset reliability and reduce operating costs.

In interviews, be prepared to walk through a root-cause analysis you’ve led, the steps you took to implement a corrective action, and how you measured the impact on production performance. Talk through your approach to budgeting and capital projects and how you prioritise reliability initiatives.

Ask about the site’s current maintenance maturity and the KPIs they target (uptime, MTTR, MTBF), as well as what ongoing capital projects are planned and how this role will contribute to those outcomes.

Next steps to join the team

If this matches your experience, click the apply button and follow the prompts. We will get in touch if you are shortlisted for this opportunity. If you would like to learn more about the company, you may check our website: Pact Group | Leading the Circular Economy